Say One Thing, Mean Another
by MoondustWolf
Summary: Please ignore the crap title. This is set right after the first little meeting between Charlie and Claire in Raised By Another, and then after that ep. It's a bit cheesy, but it's cute and fluffy, and meant to please CC shippers. Orginally posted at lostf


_Say One Thing, Mean Another_

Disclaimer: I don't own Lost. If I did, I'd be rich and famous, and it would air more than once a week.

_She really hadn't meant it like that._

_She'd just been taken so much by surprise. _

_After all, she's just been through someone attacking herself and her baby, and nobody had believed her._

_Except him._

_And he'd said . . .he'd said they could be friends._

_And she'd wanted it. She wanted to be friends. More than friends, in fact. And she suspected it was what he was thinking, too._

_Now all the things the could have, or should have said flipped though her mind, words punctured over and over again by that look in his eyes._

_She hated her self for hurting him like that. She'd been panicked and she wasn't thinking. He'd been so sweet; he was always so sweet. She wanted to be with him, she wanted to talk to him. She wanted to follow him and have him protect her, and she wanted them to comfort one another. She . . ._

_She loved him. _

_He understood why. Really, he did._

_He did, he did, he did, he did._

_He sighed and sank to the ground. Why had he been so stupid? She'd been scared and confused, and how did he help her? By rambling on like an idiot._

_It was just . . ._

_They were so open with another; he thought she'd want him to be there for her. He wanted to be there for her. All the time._

_She was so different from all the other girls he'd ever met. She was so much better. Her smile made him light up, even when he was in the depths of withdrawal, and shaking at night, sweat running down his face, and nightmares interrupting his sleep. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Not drop dead gorgeous, but beautiful. And he'd, to his on surprise, fallen in love with her._

_Liam would have laughed, probably. Would have said he was being stupid. But he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her; He'd do anything to be with her, even if it meant being on that bloody island forever. _

_And he had no idea if she felt the same way._

Hours had passed, and the sky had grown dark. Charlie and Claire huddled quietly together in the velvety dark of the cave. The memories the both had were vague and interrupted be sharp headaches. For both, they'd remembered Ethan approaching, raising something large and heavy, and then . . .

It had been terrifying for both of them when they'd woken up alone. But Claire had started screaming, and Charlie had found her, telling her with what humor he could manage that she was getting very good at getting people's attention.

" Do you think they're looking?" Claire whispered, pulling close to Charlie, tears in her eyes.

"Claire, dammit, you're pregnant. Of course they're looking. We've just hidden ourselves really well. Not by our choice, mind, but still. We've accidentally become the hide-and-seek champions of the universe"

She laughed, even as the tears ran down her cheeks. He reached up to wipe them away.

"Don't worry, love", he murmured, leaning close, staring into her eyes. She looked so afraid, and yet was as radiant as ever. Her eyes were still pooled with tears; her skin was pale, lit by the moonlight outside . . .

He kissed her.

And right away pulled back, alarmed. Her eyes were wide now, meeting his in shock.

"Oh God" he stammered. "I'm so sorry. I . . .I wasn't". He stopped. There was no anger in her eyes. She looked as though she was waiting for him to say something else, but his throat was stuck. After a moment, she spoke herself.

"I really didn't meat in that way."

This was not what he'd been expecting. He still seemed unable to find his voice, and after a moment she continued, her voice cracking slightly.

"It was just . . .I was taken by surprise. I wasn't expecting anything, and you said . . .you said we should be friends." And before she could stop herself, she blurted it out. "I don't want to friends. I want to be more than that. I . . .I love you"

Now she shut up, feeling like a complete idiot, waiting for him to stammer that he didn't feel the same way. But his silence continued. It was becoming unnerving.

"Look," she chocked, "if you don't feel the same-"

But he put a finger to her lips. He couldn't say anything, but he didn't need to. He kissed her again and again, running his hands up her back, through her hair. Dimly, she recognized being terrified. There was concern for Jack, and all the others who were probably risking their lives to find them. And, of course, there was the frantic need to protect her child. But for right now . . .

They feel asleep in each other's arms that night.


End file.
